~ Day by day with RA …

Weekend Update; Simponi Shot #3

I don’t know how I could have forgotten about the fatigue. When I got home Friday afternoon, it had set in. Not the “I’ve had a rough day at the office tired,” but that bone-deep, wrenching “I don’t want to move a muscle, just put me to bed” kind of fatigue that comes with RA. While the folic acid I’ve been taken has helped ward off the fatigue, I could tell Friday night that the way I felt was a sure sign that the second Simponi shot had finally worn off, exactly on time, four weeks after I took it. So I was in bed, asleep, by 9:00 pm.

And when 8:00 am Saturday morning rolled around, did I want to go to my water aerobics class? Not hardly. But I did. Let me tell you, it was tough, but some encouragement from “Mr. I go to cardiac rehab 3x a week” husband, got me out of bed into my bathing suit and headed toward the health club.

From there we went to lunch, to the Texas State Fair (the nation’s largest), to a movie (Zombieland), then to dinner (Cibus for some wonderful seafood pasta and a great red wine), and finally home to watch a movie(W). I was totally worn out by the end of the day and let me assure you, walking around the fair in cool, fall weather was extremely painful (especially after an hour of aerobics that morning). My knees would hardly bend. I thought about taking the Simponi shot on Saturday after we got home, but held fast to my plan.

Sunday was another busy day on my feet. Grocery shopping for over an hour, then putting up groceries, making lunch, starting on the laundry that’s been piling up for weeks, and cooking for the coming week. Finally at 5:00, everything but a few loads of laundry were done. All the chopping, basting, stirring, and seasoning to make soup for dinner (acorn squash bisque with turkey Italian sausage, roasted garlic and cannelloni beans); roast chicken and southern braised green beans for Monday; and pasta sauce for later in the week — were all done and stashed in the fridge ready to be reheated and enjoyed.

So finally it was time for the shot. I’d been looking forward to it for about a week now. Well, not the shot, but the relief it brings. I really like the autoinject pen. Five seconds and its all done. To me it stings a bit, but I don’t do anything like use an ice pack before hand (like I did with Humira). If I did, it wouldn’t hurt at all. But it’s over so quickly that one “ouch” and it’s done. I do have a slight bruise around the injection site this morning, but other than that, no ill effects. And I can tell that it’s working by the way my knees felt coming up the stairs to the office this morning. I still have some stiffness, but the last shot took about 24 hours for everything to quit hurting, so I’m expecting about the same this time. And hopefully this shot will last the full four weeks. The next shot is the one I take before the London trip and I need it to be in full force and effect. Lots of walking and lots of steps in London.

Thanks for checking in. I’ll update how the Simponi is working over the next few days.